


Just Sleep

by thesalmondean



Series: Interludes [8]
Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Coda, Gap Filler, M/M, Missing Scene, post-episode, sorta gap filler?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-28
Updated: 2017-05-28
Packaged: 2018-11-06 01:30:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11025762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesalmondean/pseuds/thesalmondean
Summary: Aaron decides to stay at the pub rather than go home to The Mill - Robert seeks him out. A short gap-filler/missing scene/episode coda for May 26, 2017





	Just Sleep

**Author's Note:**

> Gap-filler/missing scene/episode coda for May 26, 2017. It remains to be seen if Monday May 29 is a new day or a continuation of Friday, but regardless, this little scene wouldn't leave me so I wrote it out.

The backroom of the pub was dark and quiet.

Robert, pocketing his key, closed the back door as softly as possible for the old building. He could hear a soft, low drone of conversation emanating from the front of the pub. It was near closing time, but from the sounds of it there were a few customers still.

Glancing up the darkened stairwell, Robert felt his heart in his throat.

After Aaron had stormed out the toilet he'd all but disappeared. It wasn't until a few hours later that Robert finally got a text that Aaron was going to sleep over at the pub for the night. Robert had felt momentary relief that he finally knew where Aaron had gone to.

He’d been on the edge all evening; not knowing where Aaron was; not knowing who to call to ask because he'd been afraid of the speed of the Emmerdale gossip mill; afraid the whole of the Dingle family would shun him before telling him if they knew where Aaron was.

Robert took a deep, shaky breath and started up the darkened staircase. He'd lived in the pub long enough to know which creaky stairs to step over so as not to reveal his presence, and he made it to the top landing in relative silence. Glancing down the hall Robert saw light from under Noah's bedroom door. Listening, he could hear the muted sounds of a video game. Turning the other way, Robert stood face to face with he and Aaron's old room. The door was closed and there was no light from beneath. Pressing his ear to the door, Robert heard only his own labored breathing, and the blood rushing through his head.

Closing his eyes for a moment, he took a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm his racing heart before he slowly turned the knob and opened the door. The shades were open and the moonlight shone in, directly onto the side of the bed that was Robert’s. That had been Robert’s. The side of the bed that was empty.

“Aaron?” Robert, slipping through the door and closing it behind him, said softly, tentatively.

Aaron, wrapped up tightly in some awful striped blanket that he probably pulled from his mum’s room, moved, propping himself up on one arm. Robert could just barely make out his face in the filtered moonlight.

“What? Robert? What are you doing here?” his voice was thick and gravelly and Robert knew it wasn’t just sleepiness that had made his voice sound that way.

“I said I’d see ya tomorrow,” Aaron added, his voice stronger now, a hint of anger. He sounded inaccessible; closed off.

Robert stepped further into the room, desperation coursing through him. He could hear it, Aaron was distancing himself and would soon kick him out again.

“I’m sorry,” he said quickly, knowing how trite it sounded…and how many times he’d said those words to Aaron in the last 36 hours.

“I just…-,” Robert paused, knotting his hands together in front of him and staring at the foot of the bed, unable to meet Aaron’s stony gaze.

“I can’t sleep in that house alone,” Robert finally managed, his voice breaking slightly on the last word. He thought he saw Aaron flinch, but likely that was more wishful thinking than anything else.

“I can’t sleep in our bed without you. I just, I can’t do that again,” Robert’s eyes pricked, and his entire body ached for his husband’s touch. He yearned for Aaron.

Lifting his eyes to look at Aaron, he was heartened to see the other man’s stare had softened just a bit.

“Please, Aaron. Please don't make me leave,” Robert added, his voice just a whisper. He knew he was being unfair and asking for too much but he couldn't help himself. He couldn't NOT ask.

Aaron dropped his head and Robert felt his heart crack, suddenly certain that this was it. He’d made the last mistake he would ever be allowed and Aaron was well and truly done with him. He couldn’t blame him, and Robert was amazed they’d actually made it this far after what he’d had to confess.

“Just sleep?” Aaron lifted his head then, and Robert met his stare, taking in the beautiful face of the man he loved so much that he felt physical pain at the thought of losing him.

“Yeah. Yes. Sleep. Just sleep,” Robert stepped closer to the bed, hopeful.

Aaron stared at him for a long moment, and Robert felt the heat of his look, the pain behind it, but also the desire to make things right again. At least that’s what he hoped.

Aaron just nodded and laid back down, his back to Robert. Robert crossed the room in two long strides, toeing off his shoes as he went. The bed was stripped bare, and so Robert slipped off his jacket and lay down, draping it over himself. Rolling to his right side, he was faced with staring at the back of Aaron’s head, and it took all his strength not to reach out and touch him.

“Aaron?”

A soft grunt was all the response.

“I love you.”

Silence.

Robert clenched his jaw and squeezed his eyes, swallowing hard to prevent the next words from leaving his lips; _do you still love me?_


End file.
